What can we expect in the future?

When I think about what learning was like when I grew up and what learning is like today I am amazed at how the times have changed. I don't feel that the curricumlum has changed dramatically, but the way we learn the curriculum certainly has.

24 years ago when I began my career as a student there was not even a computer in the classroom. I don't recall any computers in the school, maybe the principal or front office staff may have used one, but not that I can recall. My first real memory of a computer in our classroom was when I was in 4th or 5th grade and we were allowed to play games on it as a reward for good behavior. Now at many schools when you walk into a grade school classroom there are many computers present. They are used to enhance childrens' skills in many different subject areas. They are used as a "hybrid" to traditional instruction where the teacher lectures, but the students complete their assignments electronically. This delivery method was not possible 20 years ago, probably not even "invented". Most people probably never imagined that todays' children could use computers to learn.

20 years ago students were taught by a teacher in the front of a classroom. Today students can be taught via satellite by a teacher 100 miles away!! They can be taught over the internet using a web cam by a teacher in another country!! With all the capabilities we have today we should expect to see more and more college graduates receiving high paying jobs as young adults, but are we? Is all the technology that we have available today really helping our students learn more effectively or is it hindering their capabilities as human beings? Only time will tell.

What does the future hold for todays' students? I think the future is wide open. It is up to the student to make good use out of what they are learning. It is up to them to take the knowledge they gain through the uses of technology in education and apply it to their own futures. I think the future of learning and education is wide open and there will probably be many advances in technology and methods of instruction in the next 20 years that we can't even imagine.

My hope for the future of learning is that teachers will still be needed. I hope that it is still in the best interest of students to have a physical being on hand to put knowledge into their minds. However, when you can get all the information you need from a "connected" computer is a college degree really going to be that apealling to an employer? Who knows? The future is wide open!